Think Construction

Inspire a new generation – in just one hour you can share your construction career story with students near you. Think Construction is a resource pack for CIOB members working to encourage young people (14-19) to consider the construction sector as a first-choice, career destination.

1. What is Think Construction?

The pack has been inspired by enquiries and feedback from members looking for resources to help them with school outreach sessions. The content has been shaped by research carried out with young people to understand their perceptions of the industry as well as input from teachers and industry advisers.

This suite of resources is for CIOB members and other construction professionals to use when promoting professional careers in construction to young people. Take CIOB’s Think Construction! Resource Pack into your local school, inspire the next generation of construction professionals and develop your presentation skills.

We have also partnered withInspiring the Futurewhere you can sign up to volunteer just one hour of your time to speak at local schools and colleges about your career and why you love working in construction – it’s one of the best ways to encourage young people into the sector.

To sign up, go to the Inspiring the Future site andregister as an individual volunteer. Make sure you say you’re a CIOB member on your profile. Anyone can volunteer- from Apprentices to CEOs.

2. Your Tools

Guide to planning a session – contains tips for creating and managing well-structured and varied sessions on the construction sector to engage young people (14-19) in schools. Includes FAQs and answers about the industry that you can use.

Presentation Template PowerPoint template presentation deck designed to help you to structure and guide your Construction Careers Session. Each part can be edited fully and simply so you can adapt and scale it to your own needs and those of your audience.

3. Activities

Interactive sessions to help members create varied sessions that will engage with young people and keep their attention

Find your Match: This game can be used as an icebreaker to help students relate the construction industry to buildings or structures they may know

Construction Career Paths: an activity to make students aware of the range of professional roles involved in a construction project and the different routes to enter construction

Build a Tower: Students work in teams to compete to construct the tallest tower, using paper and sticky tape

Fantasy Schools: Students design their fantasy school, then consider how they would bring the project to life

4. Video Case Studies

Short videos with inspiring stories that showcase the interesting and rewarding professional career opportunities and experiences available in the sector

A family affair- Ellie and Nicola Charles (mother and daughter) discuss choosing construction management as a career

Mentor/mentee- Senior Engineer Tom Martin and undergraduate Jodie Hickman on work experience at Interserve discuss their jobs and what it’s like working together

Tom Martin- Senior Engineer at Interserve on a direct route to a professional career in Construction

Jodie Hickman- Undergraduate studying Architectural Engineering and Design Management at Loughborough University discusses her career choice and her work experience at Interserve

Meet the professionals (Part 1)- construction professionals share their stories and tips for getting ahead in the industry with construction students at Greenwich University

Meet the professionals (Part 2)- aspirations for a changing industry - Construction professionals share their views on the changing industry with construction students at Greenwich University

Be part of something big- a short animated video that gives students a brief introduction to some of the exciting professional roles in the UK construction industry

5. Social and Minecraft

Our twitter, facebook and instagram feeds are full of stories, images and articles about various construction topics that can be used to support your lessons. We also feature two of our young members on our blog who share their experiences on getting into the industry and their educational paths

Ellie Charles is a student in her first year of studies in Construction Management at UCL

Vipattz Ratnarajah is from Sri Lanka, working in Brunei who has recently become a Chartered member